American ginseng is a perennial glabrous, herbaceous species originating from a fusiform root with a 2 to
6 dm stem. Its leaves are 3 to 4 with 3 to 5 leaflets that are elliptic or obovate, acuminate, serrate and up to 15 cm in
length by 8 cm in width. The leaf base is oblique and petioluate. The peduncles are 2 to 25 cm in length and the pedicels
are up to 12 mm in length. From May to June, the species produces flowers with obsolete sepals or either up to 0.2 mm in
length, petals 0.5 to 1 mm in length, and styles approximately 1 to 2 mm in length. From August to October, a fruit (drupe) is
produced approximately 10 mm in diameter and red in color (Radford et. al. 1986).

American ginseng occurs from Maine, west to Ontario and perhaps Manitoba, and south to Florida, Alabama,
Louisiana, and Kansas. It is most characteristic of the Appalachian and Ozark regions.
American ginseng occurs at generally low densities over a very broad range, with a modern total population
of perhaps a billion plants. However, population sizes of this plant have decreased considerably since European settlement,
primarily because of extensive digging of its roots for commercial sale (NatureServe 2003). In Louisiana, ginseng is only
known from the Tunica Hills Region at Tunica Hills Wildlife Management Area located north of St. Francisville, Louisiana.
Recent surveys by the author and the Louisiana Natural Heritage Program have failed to relocate extant and new population of
this species in Louisiana.

In a comprehensive survey on Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests, the average ginseng population included 50 individuals.
The largest population was 1000 individuals over a distance of 40-50 acres. A two-year survey and field-validated modeling
study in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the largest protected area for ginseng, estimated that 51,195 plants
occur there. However, when the total area of suitable habitat was incorporated into the model, 212,559 plants were
estimated to occur (NatureServe 2003).